Hospitals and medical clinics use many sharps objects that are disposed of rather than cleaned and reused. Generally it is desirable and often necessary to provide secure containers into which the sharps objects and waste materials are placed for storage pending their disposal. These containers provide security against pilfering of used syringes and the like to prevent them falling into the hands of intravenous drug users or others who are likely to use them without proper sterilization. Such containers are also designed so that when sharps are placed therein, they are safely stored without placing hospital staff and patients at risk of contact with the sharps, which otherwise could result in needle stick injuries and the potential for transfer of infectious disease.
Sharps containers are known and examples of such containers are shown in the following specifications; U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,498, U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,997, U.S. Pat. No. 5,178,322, and EP 90313126.6, all of which disclose disposable containers. Reusable containers are also known, as shown for example by U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,243. A general problem with both disposable and reusable containers is that it is difficult to provide a container that has a large access opening and at the same time ensure prevention of hand access to within the container.